Showing On 22, 24, 25 July
Monday 6pm, Wednesday 4pm and Thursday 6pm
Watch The Trailer
Storyline (warning: spoilers)
Paris, 1887. Duels have been officially outlawed but are still regular practice. For many, they are the only way to defend their honour. For his fourth feature film as a director Vincent Perez's historical film makes excellent use of various forms of duels - with épées, pistols, and sabres on horseback
The main protagonists are Clément Lacaze (the arresting presence of Roschdy Zem) who is a sword-master and instructor at a fencing school who tries to dissuade his nephew Adrien (Damien Bonnard) from taking part in a duel with the experienced Colonel Berchère (played by the agile Perez).
Also in the mix is Doria Tillier, fighting a feminist rear-guard action covering such subjects as equal voting rights and wages, and also the right to wear trousers, which technically were banned in France until relatively recently.
Perez manages the set-piece confrontations with precision and a nail-biting suspense including a fast and furious tussle with sabres on horseback between Lacaze and Berchère which proceeds at breakneck speed.
It is fascinating to be drawn into this time and place which is evoked with historical detail and insight, in part highlighted by the cinematography of Lucie Badinaud as well as in the editing of Sylvie Lager.
Perez with his reputation for such costume dramas as Cyrano de Bergerac (by Jean-Paul Rappeneau) and Le Bossu (On Guard) by Philippe de Broca acquits himself with distinction both behind and in front of the camera.!